I was recently reminded of this quote when a friend posted it on social media. I first heard this saying many years ago. I love words and am a firm believer in surrounding myself with positive statements and visual images. As a middle school principal, when I heard this quote, I thought it would be a superb choice to use ending the morning announcements each day. Day after day after reading announcements about club meetings and daily events, I paused and said, “Make it a great day or not…the choice is yours.”

Silly me…I believed that all of my middle school students would make the right choice and choose to have a great day. Yet day after day,

I am not sure what it is about summer that makes us take a step back and be a little more lackadaisical. Someone coined the phrase the “Lazy Days of Summer” but I prefer to look at summer as a respite for the soul. If you have or have had any connection to education – even being the parent of a school-aged child, you know the excitement that comes with the last day of school and summer vacation. There seems to be permission to do less. It becomes ok to lie in the grass and look at the shape of the clouds, catch lightening bugs at twilight, and if you live in my household, run out at night to watch the space station fly over. I will say that summer is the time that I tend to disengage from the world letting my mind wander allowing my creative thinking to sprout with ideas. When we push ourselves and are constantly on go, we squeeze out the time for our creative brain to do its work.

Let’s face it; we all have a fear of something. I know people that are afraid of spiders, heights, speaking in front of an audience or flying in an airplane. While those things don’t impact me, snakes and needles are high on my list of things to avoid! While some fear is healthy as our body warns us of danger, fear can also be debilitating. When fear sets in, it causes us to stop in our tracks and lose focus of everything else around us.

I had the opportunity to serve on a women’s retreat weekend recently and the visual for the weekend showed a woman pushing through the gates of fear toward the hope of a brighter future. I began to think about the fears that we face in our daily lives. We may have the fear of financial despair, the fear of safety for those we love, the fear that the dreams we held are not coming to fruition. One thing I know about fear, it will steal your joy. How can you keep the fear of the future from robbing you of the joy of today?

It’s the end of December and it’s time to close the book on the past year. Some of us will have experienced great joy through events such as a wedding, the birth of a child or the start of a new career. Others will have experienced great sorrow and perhaps loss, such as the loss of a loved one, loss of a job, sorrow from having to leave home and relocate or being faced with an illness that interrupts our life. Finally, we may be ambivalent; nothing really great or terrible seemed to happen to us in the past year.

Whichever category you find yourself in, it is time to close the book and look ahead. The truth is that we cannot change the past; we can only learn from it and seek the treasures that the past leaves.

t’s Christmastime and one of my favorite times of the year. It is a time when we re-connect with friends and take the time to visit and share good times with one another. Since Christmas comes at the end of the calendar year, it is also a great time to look back at the year and remember the best. Although for many there will have been sadness and troubles during the year, I believe that while we remember it all, we should try and focus on the good.

As I was preparing our family Christmas cards, I went to my photo files on my computer and began with January searching for good photographs to include on our yearly card. This was a great reminder of the blessings and the best of this year! I looked for the best events, best photos of family members and best unique experiences of this year – those were the things that I wanted to draw from and share with others when they saw our Christmas card. During this busy season of the year, I think it is critical to take time to stop and remember the best…

How often have we heard that kids will listen to what you say, but will do what they see you do? People that we lead may hear what we say and ask, but will model their actions based on what they see from us. Leaders are often told to lead by example, but what does that really mean? As a parent, teacher and leader, I have always tried to lead by example, but must admit that at times I have been guilty of not taking the time to set up the path to success.

As a parent, I told my children numerous times, “Go clean your room…”

As a teacher, I told my students numerous times, “Study for your test…”

As a principal, I told my teachers numerous times, “Do what is best for your students…”

While all of these are good statements, taking the statement and providing concrete ways to success makes the difference in being an effective leader as opposed to an instruction giver. I happened to see a real life example of leadership in action last week while visiting Disneyworld.

I love the beach. I look forward with great anticipation any opportunity that I have to come to the beach. I am not sure why I find the beach so relaxing and peaceful, but for me it seems to be the only place where I can finally get to a point that I can relax and rest. We have all heard the saying, “There is no rest for the weary.” – and at the other end of the spectrum, “Come to me all who are weary, I will give you rest.” Why is rest so elusive?

I am sure that I have made plenty of foolish statements in my life. Those who have worked beside me along the way can probably comment and share some of the silly things I may have said. My husband often reminds me of probably the most foolish statement that I have ever made, “Sleep is highly overrated.” The funny thing is that not only did I say it; I actually believed it to be true!